Luke’s mother, Dara Luke, donated his organs after Luke committed suicide in prison on May 10, two authoritative sources told The Enterprise.

Luke was kept on life support for two days after his suicide so arrangements could be made to donate his organs, which were received by “several” recipients, said the sources, who are not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. It was unclear Tuesday which of Luke’s organs were donated and how many transplant recipients received his organs.

Dara Luke could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Keith Luke, 28, a self-proclaimed white supremacist who once carved a swastika into his forehead, was convicted last May of killing two people and raping and shooting a third in a hate-filled rampage in Brockton in January 2009. All three victims were of Cape Verdean descent.

Stressing the need for organ donors, some members of the medical community have expressed support for receiving organ donations from prisoners.

"One more organ donor means at least one life, and typically more lives, saved," said Dr. Shu S. Lin, a surgeon at the Duke Pulmonary Transplant Clinic in Durham, N.C.

In a 2012 manuscript published by the National Institutes of Health, Lin noted a "seemingly insurmountable shortage of donor organs" and explained his rationale for allowing death row inmates, specifically, to donate their organs.

"This is obviously a very sensitive issue because there's a lot of emotion that’s put into this population," Lin said Tuesday. "But, in the end, as a health care professional, it's about saving people's lives."

Donated organs can mean the difference between life or death for people awaiting transplants, he said.

"The more desperate you are as a recipient, as a patient, whether a white supremacist or the president of the United States, you don’t care about where the organ comes from. You care about life or death. That’s what we care about."

There are 122,729 people awaiting organ transplants nationwide, of which 100,596 are awaiting a kidney donor, according to The United Network for Organ Sharing.

It is unknown how many inmates have donated their organs nationally. The United Network for Organ Sharing does not collect any social information on donors or recipients, said spokeswoman Anne Paschke.

Nationally, thousands of people die every year awaiting an organ transplant, Paschke said.

“On average, 79 people are transplanted every day in this country. But another 17 to 18 die waiting,” Paschke said. “Just one person signing up on their state registry could save or enhance the lives of 50 people through organ, eye and tissue donation.”

Page 2 of 2 - Luke was pronounced dead at the University of Massachusetts Hospital in Worcester on May 12, after two days on life support. Correction officers had found Luke unresponsive in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Center in Shirley.

He had attempted suicide in jail at least three other times and carved a swastika into his forehead with a small staple before making a court appearance..

Luke had been serving two consecutive life sentences for the racially-motivated murders of Selma Goncalves, 20, and Arlindo Goncalves, 72, who are not related, and in raping and shooting a third victim on Jan. 21, 2009. He later confessed to police that he committed the crimes, which ended in a mid-day gun battle in Brockton.

Luke told police that his rampage began on Clinton Street, where he shot his three victims, two of them fatally. He was later arrested at North Quincy and Court streets after his shootout with police.

Maria Papadopoulos may be reached at mpapa@enterprisenews.com or follow on Twitter @MariaP_ENT.